Petals of Feathers
by Arceus.Conberma
Summary: Shen may have lost everything; his parents, his land, even probably the soothsayer. But there is one person who Shen forgot a long time ago, will help him change the way he is and seek out who he truly is with new friends. ShenxOC Chp 3 is up!
1. Prologue: Rescued

I know I haven't been uploaded any fanfic recently, probably in year, but now I can assure you guys, I'M BACCCCCKKKKKKKK! ANyway, since I watched KFP2, I've decided to make two new stories: **One is a fan-comic and the other is a fanfic; the fanfic is a prequel and the fan-comic is like a movie of my own (but still a comic ^^)**

**Anyone wants to know could go to my deviantart acount: liyuconberma. deviantart. com**

**You will also find my KFP fanfics and arts as well. Hope you will understand more about this fanfic.**

So hope you will enjoy this chapter, even it's only a prologue, but I do hope you will entertain yourself with it. The next chapter will be updated as soon as possible.

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><p><em><strong>Petals of Feathers<strong>_

_**Prologue: Rescued**_

**By Arecus. Conberma**

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><p>Darkness was everywhere; it consumed and lurked him farther more. It was wide, but cold and lonely…<p>

The white peacock had been there after he was crushed by his own creation, cannon. Ironically, he didn't feel any pain afterward, perhaps that's what how it felt to be dead. The incredible heavy weight smashed on him, and the water gashed into his throat and nose, he couldn't breath but he didn't bother to. And suddenly, all of him memories came to him.

From his birth, his parents, his nanny the soothsayer, his wolf friend…and one blurry figure? He couldn't see it but slowly the figure formed into a small peahen. She looked soooo familiar to Shen but he just couldn't recall his memory.

Then, a flashback in his deep buried memories:

_A young peahen was running joyfully on a wide flower field. Shen recognized the field; it was the flower field behind the Gongmen Palace! Everything was going to become a huge jigsaw puzzle as questions puzzled the albino peacock:** Who is that peahen? Why is he remembering this scene? What is wrong with him?**_

Suddenly, a light shone in front of his eyes as the darkness immediately faded away. He was back to the living world. He flickered his eyes and again, everything was so blur and pain was the first to greet him as his body was badly damaged.

Just then, he saw shadowy tall figures surrounded him, mumbling something, he couldn't hear them right. But he could hear some sentences like: "Is he dead?", "This is unusual.", and "Should we leave him here?"

The peacock was ready to slip into darkness again, until he heard a feminine voice. She was tall and it seemed to be an avian, she placed one of her wings gently on his forehead and the other on his throat. She probably sensed there was a brief chance to save his life as she ordered her friends or companies to carry him carefully into somewhere else.

Before he fell into the darkness again, he heard the same female avian's voice soothed softly.

_"You're safe now…"_

Then he smelt the scent of flower: Prunus mume. After that, he slipped into the darkness once again…

**_To be continued…_**

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><p>So hopefully this will have a very good start for you readers. And if you do or do not like it, please leave a comment and review.<p> 


	2. Lost Memory

_**Petals of Feathers**_

_**Chapter 1: Lost Memory**_

**By Arecus. Conberma**

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><p>"<em>SHEN!" a cry of peahen pleaded for help in the middle of the river, with a bundle in her wings protectively.<em>

"_Mui!" the teen albino peacock desperately tried to grab his trapped friend as he leaned his best of his wing._

_The two peacocks both tried to reach to each other. A huge flood was coming to the peahen's way; the peahen aware of what was coming as she threw the bundle to Shen instead._

_When young Shen looked back at the peahen with shocked expression, as if he predicted what worse would come upon her. The peahen glanced at Shen sadly, tears in her eyes and silently said, "I'm sorry."_

_With that, she was washed away by the flood! Shen watched the event with his own very eyes as one of the devoted ones in his life drowned and flushed away! He knelt, legs limped, tears flooded his crimson eyes, then he let out an anguish cry that echoed in the area. He didn't bother the bundle in his wings as he tried to cry for his love to come back._

"_MUUIIII!" he roared to the air._

"MUUUIIIII!" Shen cried loudly from his nightmare, or memory.

He grunted as the pain from his wounds came to greet him first. Then it came to him: his body was covered in bandages. He scanned around the area he was in; he was in a wooden bunkhouse. He didn't know how he got here or who rescued him.

But when he thought about the memory he had in his head, it suddenly gave him a headache. And yet, the peahen who had died in flood 35 years ago suddenly came into his mind! He didn't know what his big brain planned on tricking him, but he knew it gave him a really splitting headache. He forgot what his peahen friend looked like, but he'd never forget the heart-shaped pattern of her feathers, and the scent of her- Prunus mume.

He tried to get out of his sickbed, but because of his weak and wounded body, he nearly tripped. Before his face met to the ground, someone stopped his falling. He blinked at the fact; then the stranger helped him up on his bed.

The albino peacock could feel it was a pair of wings caressed him. Then he felt another new sensation; it was wet, and cold. The avian used washcloth to help to wash his wounds: the cuts, burns, and the gashes. Shen had been silenced since the stranger helped him, questions were in his mind: why was she helping him? What's her intention? Most importantly, ibWhy did she look so familiar?/b/i

When Shen tried to adjust his vision, the blur had slowly become clear. The vision became sharper and clearer, and soon he could see the nitid figure: A peahen.

Hold onto that thought: peahen, heart-shaped feather patterns, and…the scent of flower? Mui!

"Mui?" Shen asked softly, with a hint of hope in his tone. He reached out his wings, trying to grab her and asking, "Is it truly you?" he had a weak smile on his bloodied face.

He was expecting the next thing he heard would be "yes". Instead, it was, "Sorry, I think you have mistaken another peahen. My name is Meng." The peahen gently replied.

Much to the albino peacock's disappointment, he lowered his head and thought in grief and softly cursed of his stupidity. There was no way that she would survive from that flood, and not to mention in over 30 years! Although, the peahen in front of Shen's eyes, looked exactly like his lost friend. There were too many similarities about her.

Shen returned to his gloomy state, "Never mind." He muttered.

The peahen cocked her head curiously, no by his coloration but his identity. In a quick flash, she changed the subject, "So what's your name? If you can continue to speak, of course. Don't force yourself."

All of sudden, Shen's strength felt drained after he woke up. He uttered before he passed out, "S…en…"

Meng didn't hear well at the word came from the peacock's mouth, but she could hear the pronunciation was "Sen", or "Xen".

"I'll take your name as **'Xen'**, I guess." Meng presumed.

Suddenly, a new voice joined in. It was an old male goat with long white that could touch the ground, wearing ragged but still covered his body, holding a well-craved staff, and wearing an ear patch on his right eye. "So, how's our guest?"

"Oh, Elder San! Yes, he's still weak, but better now. Well, at least better than losing too much blood." Mui mused, though it wasn't the right time.

But the elder goat followed along as he chuckled lightly, "Meng, always like that, being a bit…sadistic sometimes."

"Harsh words but I accept." Meng replied with a smirk as she crossed her wings.

Elder San chuckled at that point, he slowly turned his way to exit and spoke, "I shall take my leave, but do make him feel comfortable if you could."

Meng giggled, "Elder San, you have nothing to worry about. My friends and I can handle it under control." She assured her elder senior.

"Yes, you and your friends." The goat sarcastically said with a genuine smile. Then, he was no more to be seen.

Meng shook her head, wondering the sarcastic side of the old goat. She glanced back at the unconscious albino peacock, she couldn't help thinking he was sort of…_cute_ in his sleep. Wait? _Cute? _She barely knew this stranger and yet she thought he was cute! She immediately put the thought away, but then something bothered her.

The peacock, he had an unusually face that rang some bells in the peahen's mind. And when he spoke the word "Mui", she felt the name like a piece of jigsaw puzzle somehow. At least, that's what she thought or assumed.

"Mui… Why does that sound familiar?" Meng murmured, but then she decided to let that go because she began to have a slight headache. And then she went off to grab some herbs.

But someone needed to stay behind and looked after the peacock. She grinned as she called her friends first…

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><p><em><strong>To be continued…<strong>_

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><p><em>AN: So hopefully you enjoy this chapter, and review it! The next chapter: Ten Shen Village, it will be a long chapter._


	3. Tian Shen Village

**Hope you will like this chapter and REVIEW IT! THANKS!**

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><p><em><strong>Petals of Feathers<strong>_

_**Chapter 2: Tian Shen Village**_

**By Arecus. Conberma**

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><p>A few hours later, Shen woke up from his slumber again. And this time, he felt much more better, thanks to that peahen he guessed. He decided to get off the bed on his own, at first he felt his skinny legs trembled, his knees were weak as they were ready to fall. But he kept standing as the pain slowly dulled away.<p>

Before he made his first step, he heard rattle noises, and they were coming to his way. His instinct acted quick as he grabbed the knife on the table and hid himself behind the door. So when the enemy or whoever came in, he could stab it without any sound was coming close as the peacock started to breath heavily.

Suddenly, Shen froze. He didn't know why but there was an unknown force in the air that held him still. He couldn't move or speak, just stood there like a statue and waited for the captive came. The shadowy figure came closer, the albino peacock gulp nervously quietly. When the figure showed, was a canary, aka a small yellow bird.

The canary noticed the stunned peacock beside him as he exclaimed, "You shouldn't get off your bed while you're sick!"

A shot of pain quickly shocked Shen's body, he dropped the knife in his wing as he fell down on the bed.

Instinctively, the canary gasped as he carried Shen's wings to support his weight. Though the huge difference of their size, but the small bird managed to get him to bed properly, also tucked him in. The little bird spoke, "Man, you have no idea how hard it is for me to carry you to bed!"

With one grunt, the canary gently put the cool washcloth on Shen's forehead while Shen still stared at the canary in bewilderedness. The yellow canary was wearing green silk garment, with a small bamboo vessel on his back.

The yellow canary continued talking while he was preparing some medicine at the stork. "I tried to help you change, but apparently Meng didn't prepare that. I also tried to feed you some medicine, but I didn't know what kind of aid you need. So, I...ar..kinda fed you every one of them...I'M JUST KIDDING! But seriously, I had actually fed you some medicines I don't know." the canary sheepishly scratched the back of his head with his wing.

Shen gave the canary his most deadly glare he could ever unleash. How could he let this happen? More importantly, he wanted to rip that talkative beak of that canary at that very moment. Cursing about his illness and injuries, Shen began thinking suicidal. _'Merciful Gods above the Sky Heaven, please put me out of misery, though I think that's not possible.' _Shen thought, half-sarcastic and half-serious.

"I have changed the bed sheet, pillow, pillow sheet for you. So now you can sleep more comfy. Anything else I could do?" the canary sincerely asked.

_'God, he's a chatty one. At least he stops talking for now.' _Shen thought as he rolled his eyes.

However, the short moment of silence was over as the yellow canary intercepted, "Oh, how rude of me! I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Wong. Nice meeting you, Zen."

_'Zen? What "Zen"? What is he talking about?' _Shen thought.

Before he could ask for anything, Wong yawned as he casually laid on Shen's chest. "Hope you don't mind...*yawn* that I crash down here." With that, he fell asleep, without giving the peacock some time to reply his request.

Apparently, Shen glared at the canary like a dangerous cobra, waiting to devour the prey that laid in front of him. He showed the knife that he hid beneath his wings, he glanced at his reflection in the shining blade.

_'Just one swift move, this canary will be done for. This has showed my mercy upon you, bird.' _Shen thought with a silent snicker as he rose up the knife high, ready to stab.

Before he could make his next action, Wong suddenly kicked the knife off Shen's bandaged wing, _really_hard. Shocked, Shen silently squawked and surprised that the canary's quick kick on his assault. In his sleep, to be exact.

_'He...he does kung fu in his sleep. Is he a kung fu warrior? If he is, I am in no condition to fight back...'_Shen thought grimly.

Then, he tried to lay back. When he turned his head on the bedside, he was greeted by an innocent face of a young kitten!

Again, he squawked at the unexpected_** visitor**_; the kitten cocked her head in confusion. Could this be any worse! And how did they walk without any sound! Shen thought in frustration. But nevertheless, he needed to rest. In spite of the canary still slept peacefully on his chest, he didn't care.

To add more surprises, the kitten silently climbed up on the bed and curled herself like a small fur ball and slept beside Shen's head. The albino had his limit as he was ready to flung himself up and tossed the two animals out and left him in peace.

Of course, all of these were stopped or interrupted again, Shen was ready to shout, but he paused because this time the visitor was Meng. "Oh, good, you're awake!" she greeted with a cheerful smile.

Shen could only grunt at her reply.

Meng continued, "Aw, they are sleeping? I think they like you already!"

"If they want to get suicide..." Shen muttered grumbly.

"What did you say?" Meng asked.

"...Nothing."

With two unexpected visitors or caretakers in his sickbed and an unusual event had gotten him, Shen couldn't help but smelt an aroma scent in the room. It had been since he woke up and its scent helped him to relax his tense muscle. He followed the scent as it led him to a lantern.

Another memory flowed in Shen's head...

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_**Flashback (46 years ago)**_

_Shen was 6 years old, and even at such a young ago, he usually got sick. It seemed that every day he had Death beside him 24/7, waiting a chance to pull him down to cold Hell. Luckily, with the medical help and the care of the soothsayer, his nanny, she managed to keep the young prince away from the Gate of Hell._

_One time, Shen was, again as usual, laying in his sickbed. Coughing hoarsely, there was a few time that Shen actually coughed blood but not much. The young prince felt his body was on fire, especially his forehead. The feverish tortured his mind and brain, his eyes were so dried as he thought the fever dehydrated his face. Everything around was so blur that he didn't see a small peahen beside him._

_"Shen?" the peahen asked, worriedly._

_Although Shen was in mental and physical pain, he had managed himself to speak but in mere whisper. He greeted weakly, "Hey, Mui..."_

_"How are you feeling?" she then asked._

_That's a stupid question to be honest; Shen was laying in his bed with feverish and serious coughing. What else could he feel besides pain and dizziness? But the albino didn't have that strength to do that, instead, he just said._

_"Fine...but I feel so tire and hurt..." Shen said half-heartedly._

_"Well, I have something to cheer you up." Mui smiled with glee as she showed an object that was hiding behind her back: a lantern._

_Shen managed to frown at his friend, his glance gave the peahen a message 'What the heck?'. Of course, Mui knew her friend well as if she could read his mind too. She simply rolled her eyes at Shen's 'comment' as she explained, "I know it looks like a lantern, but it's another thing."_

_'Really? How so?' a sarcastic expression showed in Shen's reddened face._

_Finally, Mui gave up, "Fine...It's a lantern! BUT, I add something special in it." she used her gentle tone that made Shen soft on her._

_The peahen continued as she lit the candle in it, "Just wait." she simply said. Soon, a scent was filled in the room. Though Shen had a weak scent because of his feverish, he could feel his tense muscle relaxed a bit and the pain faded a bit. Not much, but better._

_Before Shen could ask what was it in the lantern, Mui replied proudly, "I added an aroma therapy candle inside the lantern instead the regular one. And some scents of the herbs that Mama gave to me to help your tense muscle."_

_"Mama" was referring to the soothsayer, Mui was found deep inside the bamboo forest. The soothsayer and little Shen found her while their walk, she took her in and raised her as her own (including Shen of course). Slowly when she grew older, she slowly showed a potential to be the new soothsayer after the old goat. But that was another story to tell. Right now, the little sick albino peacock tried to relax and let the scent surrounded his body._

_"Thank you." he thanked in raspy tone._

_"You're welcome." Mui replied, "You have to get better soon, otherwise I don't have someone else to play with me."_

_The two peachicks laughed together, and Mui always spent her time in Shen's bedroom whenever he got sick again. Mui would always be there for him no matter what kind of condition Shen was in. They were friends, or more than friends..._

_**End of Flashback**_

xxxxx

"Zen? Zen? Are you okay?" Meng shook Shen violetly because he was kinda a bit off his mind, not to mention his dazed face.

Finally, the albino peacock snapped as he snarled at her. "If you _EVER _do that again, you are going to lose your _pretty_ wings." Shen threatened.

"Yea, yea, whatever, now shut up and drink this!" Meng completely ignored his threat as she stuffed the medicine into his mouth. Without any second to breath, he was forced to swallow it and the bitter, sour, mixed unknown flavours made him want to vomit.

Before he had time to complain or vomit, the peahen immediately stuck a long needle into one of his nerve points that made his throat tighten, not tight enough to choke, to avoid he vomited. He quickly shot Meng a deadly glare like his silver dagger, but the peahen didn't flinch at his threat. Instead, she crossed her wings and said.

"Don't give me that look! You're sick and I'm going to feed you the medicine, whether you like it or not!"

Shen's glare was still there, and he spoke hastily, "Why did you save me?"

Meng shrugged, "Because you're hurt and you need help." she simply said.

Shen's eyes stared at the peahen and the other two animals skeptically, and then he asked, "That's it?"

"Sure. What else do you think why we shouldn't help you?" Wong the canary asked with a confused grin.

"So you...don't know me?" Shen asked in pure shock and confusion. Were they from another country or world? How could they not hear about the vicious warlord of Gongmen City, Lord Shen?

The trio shook their heads in perfect unison, "Nope. It's not like your name "Zen" the peacock is famous around here or China." Wong intercepted.

"Wait! Wait! Wait!" Shen interrupted, "Excuse me, but which province you resident now?"

"We're residents around at Mingyu City." Meng replied.

Mingyu City was a thousand miles, or more, away from Gongmen City. To be specific, he was on the edge of China and near the capital of China! Shen's eyes widened in disbelief as he couldn't believe that he was halfway across the China and his homeland!

"I...I floated all the way here?" Shen stammered.

"Oh no, we found you injured floating in the river around the Gongmen, so we took you into our party." Meng explained.

Oh, now that explained a lot.

"Hello?" Meng waved her wings in front of dazed Shen, "Wake up call to Zen!"

Before Shen snapped, he tried to correct the identity they addressed him, he had an idea. If they knew he was a warlord of Gongmen City, also counted as a wanted and deadly criminal of all China, they would put him into the prison in a second. And to be honest, he needed a hospitality to tender his wounds. He had to use his new identity _**"Zen"**_ for now, then when he was fully recovered, he would terror and massacre this village that he resident, in case they would spill the beans to other people.

But still, he wanted to know where he was, since he had never been to the side or the edge of other province such as near as the **metropolis** **of China**! However, that wasn't the main problem, he needed to see and know this mysterious village his hospitality at.

The peacock turned his around and scanned the place, "Can I have a walk?"

"Fine, but don't force yourself. If you fall, you go straight to bed, mister!" Meng warned.

"Yes, yes. Now help me up." Shen ignored Meng's "order".

Meng signed, "Wong, Ming, help him up. I'll go get my stuff." she told her friends.

When the two incredibly small animals stood at his sides to support, it really didn't help much for the wounded peacock. But at least he could walk, very slowly. Meng helped at their back, carrying her first-aid kit in case Shen injured or something like that. Shen, on the other hand, was not very pleased at his condition and situation, cursing himself being so pathetic that he needed people's sympathy and helps.

The four of them walked out of the house, and what Shen saw was beyond surprise and shock.

The village they were at was...beautiful; the rice and vegetable field grew harvesting on the side of the small hill, different sizes of houses and tents were over the place but not so much, children were laughing joyfully, and there were many different species of animals living in this small village. There were foxes, birds, cats, dogs, rhinos, goats, komodo dragons, and even leopard! You could almost name any specie of animal around this village.

"What is this place?" Shen finally asked, still in awe at the view in front of his eyes.

"This, my friend, is _**Ten Shen Village**_."Wong replied proudly.

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><p><em><strong>To be continued…<strong>_

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><p><strong>So what do you think? DON'T THINK! READ AND REVIEW! (AS USUAL)<strong>

**And FYI, _"Tian Shen" _means "God of Heaven".**


	4. New Faces, Circus of Qimiao

**_Petals of Feathers_**

**_Chapter 3: New Faces, Circus of Qimiao_**

**By Arecus. Conberma**

**Just FYI, incase you get confuse by the names. **

****Zen = Shen****

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><p>Tian Shen Village, a mysterious village that not showed on the map of China. NO, they said it was a myth, a fantasy that appeared in children's stories or ancient Chinese folk-tales.<p>

At first, when Shen heard the name "Tian Shen Village" out form the peahen's mouth, he thought she was making fun of him or mocking him because he was injured. But when he looked around, he could understand that the peahen wasn't joking at all. This place was entirely harvested and cultivated.

Suddenly, Shen felt something light beneath his robes,...no swords. "Where are my swords?" Shen snapped.

"Oh, you mean your daggers? I sent them to our blacksmith of this village. He's good, but only the long repairing process made us impatient. But he's our ONLY blacksmith around here, what can we do?" Meng said in an obvious tone as she shrugged her shoulders.

"I swear to Gods I will shred you into-" Shen clenched his teeth as he hissed threatened at Meng.

"Now, don't give me that, will you!" Meng chided, "We're just trying to help."

"The more you help, the more troubles you give."

"If we didn't help you, you would have died in the river in the first place!" Meng angrily argued.

Shen silenced for a moment, and he hated to admit the truth, they did save his life. And he needed to survive to get his revenge on the so-called Dragon Warrior and the kung fu masters. In the meantime, he could used his recovery time to plan on a nasty scheme of his revenge. While he was speculating deeply, he felt something on his trains.

Shen looked back, and he figured out that something, or someone was nuzzling his long train feathers; it was the mute cat.

Before Shen pulled the kitten off his trains, Meng cut in, "Cai, sweetie. Don't mess up his feathers." the peahen kidded gently as she picked up the kitten and carried her along the way.

They walked a while, and Shen could feel uncomfortable gazes on him, the albino peacock felt unease at this. The yellow canary, Wong if Shen recalled, flew beside him and assured, "Don't worry, it's been a while to have a new guy around here, they will get used to you." he gestured with a warm smile. Shen blinked at this; it's been a mere hour, and he hadn't questioned about his 'omen' coloration.

Soon, they approached to an enormous carriage and a huge tent as it could contain an army. There, he met many different species of animal, such as, alligator, gorilla, baboon, horse, even a komodo dragon was included in the party. With a range of animals gathered in a camp, that could only meant one thing, that this...

"Well, here we are. Welcome to the magnificent Circus of Qimiao!" Meng proudly presented it. Wong and Cai flew and ran over to greet the members of the circus and told them about the news of their new arrival.

"Here," Meng helped Shen to sit on a long log gently, and she softly told him, "I'll get you something to eat."

With the peahen, the others immediately asked the albino peacock. Surprisingly, to Shen, they were asking not about his color for once in his lifetime. No, they were asking eagerly some random questions. Like...

"Where are you from?"

"Do you have a huge pain in your head?"

"Do you know your name?"

"Do you have friends, or family?"

All these questions came at once, and Shen was panicked as he never approached to this kind of situation. And when he said never, he meant NEVER EVER!

When he tried to look for Meng, he saw her talking to the vary species in the tent; he couldn't heard what they were talking about. And then she pointed at him with a him, and so as the other animals followed her direction. And at that point, Shen was grabbed by those 'friends' of the peahen, and what's next was getting introduced by the animals.

"Keung, the acrobat performer of the crew, also the greatest Prank Master in the world!" The baboon introduced with pride.

"Yao, the martial art performer." The komondo dragon introduced cooly.

"Zhong, the illusional painter." the old fox introduced mysteriously.

"Xiao, the entertainer." the warthog with Mongolia style clothing introduced eagerly.

"And you know me, Wong, the composer or the musician of the circus!" Wong, the yellow canary enthusiastically introduced himself.

There was an awkward silence after the introduction, the crews stared at the albino peacock expectedly, Shen couldn't help to ask, "What?"

"Aren't you going to introduce yourself to us?"

"I thought you have already acknowledged my name." Shen said in an obvious tone.

"Yes," Wong started. "But it would be polite that we can hear it from you."

Shen groaned a bit, "Fine, my name is..._Zen_." Shen reluctantly said.

"What is your specialty?" Yao asked curiously.

"I'm actually a sword master." Shen replied.

"Cool..." Keung stared at Shen in admiring way. "I wish I could do the swords, I can't **swallow** that long!"

"Wait! What!" Shen began hysterical.

"Well, you can **_swallow_** a sword, right? Why don't you show us, then?" Yao suggested as he handed the peacock a large, and _pointy_ sword.

"No, when I say I'm a sword master. I MEANT in martial arts!" Shen yelled.

The komondo dragon immediately threw away the sword, without caring who got hit by it anyway. He sheepishly scratched the back of his head, chuckling, "Ooooohhhh...Sorry. Our mistake."

"_'Our'_ mistake?" the rest of the circus crew frowned in unison, staring all at the komondo dragon.

"Okay, MY mistake! So, maybe you could be partner with me for the performance. What do you say?" Yao eagerly asked Shen, Zen, to him.

Shen was still bewildered at this, as there was still no questions about his coloration or his origin. He was lost in track when Wong and Yao both waved their paws and wings at the dazed peacock, "Hello? Earth call to Zen!" Wong shouted.

Finally, Shen had snapped as he shouted back, "You don't need to shout at me, idiot! I'm not deaf!"

"Well, _I'm sorry_." Wong sarcastically replied.

"So, what do you say, again?" Yao asked again.

Shen stuttered, "I...I don't know. It's so sudden..."

Suddenly, he was greeted by a warm bowl of congee with a peahen holding it. "Here you go!" Meng smiled at him.

Without a word, Shen was pulled yet gently to sit on the log where there was a campfire in the centre. Shen was beyond speechless, he was petrified! Probably he was rarely treated well as a normal peacock before in his pathetic childhood life, even in teenage and adultery. So, what he was feeling, was an entirely new level and approaching.

While he was in contemplation, he was interrupted by an annoying chant from the yellow canary.

"Oh! Let me feed him! Please! Please! Please!" Wong begged for volunteering.

The canary had completely out of his mind, what word would be suitable for him? Stupid? Naive? Or crazy? Maybe all three of them. Meng was hesitated about it, but she gave the congee to Wong nevertheless, not worrying about him getting any chance of being killed by former warlord which they did not know about it, it was the fact the small body of Wong carrying the congee and trying to feed Shen.

On the other hand, Shen tried to send his message telepathically to the canary, which was also an impossible act! But if the canary dared to touch any of his feathers, he would be the first thing he'd kill on his blacklist.

When Wong approached him, he was having a difficulty of holding the bowl, but he had gone through it. He picked up a spoonful of congee and placed it beside Shen's beak. Shen glared at Wong in disgust, and yet the canary seemed don't mind at all, or ignored the deadly glare from the peacock.

"I'll help to blow it until it's cool." Wong said in caring tone, or was he trying to be his nanny? The only one who would ever treat him like this was his Nana - the soothsayer! Shen ferociously corrected himself in his conscious.

As the canary gently blew and blew, the liquid in the spoon had started to cool down. Seeing it as a chance, Shen _'accidentally'_ sneezed at the spoon which caused the spoonful of congee splashed all over Wong's face!

Laughter bursted out from Meng and the circus crews, the mute kitten just showed her brightest smile. Although Shen hated to admit, it was mildly amusing. He was expecting an angry face from the canary, but instead, he wore a goofy face and laughed with the others.

"Hehe, I can't blow as good as you do." Wong joked.

"Come on, Wong." Meng interjected, "Why don't you go clean yourself and I'll take it from here?" she gently insisted.

"Okay. See you later, Zen!" With that, Wong cheerfully flew.

"He is quite optimistic for a canary himself." Shen marked.

"Yea, well, that's what makes him special." Meng replied with a smile. "He's...like light, a candle in the dark. And so is everyone around here too. Together, we are one lantern."

_'One lantern...'_ Shen thought deeply. But swiped it away quickly and snapped back into reality, he shook the thoughts away from his head. _'NO! Don't think of that! The only person who thinks of that is... her...' _the thought grimed him slightly. He missed her, after all those years, frankly.

"Hey, what's with all the racking?" a new voice came behind the crowd.

"Han!" the others exclaimed happily.

"Oh, Zen. This is our last member of the circus crew, Han." Meng introduced the last member of the crew. What Shen saw the final member of the circus, his eyes widened at the figure. Everything froze around him.

_Impossible..._

A panda...?

_xxxxxxxxxx_

_Shen's POV:_

_xxxxxxxxxx_

Impossible! I could have sworn I had killed every single stupid panda in that stupid village! Although, that _'so-called'_ Dragon Warrior had proven me wrong in that theory. Some pandas might have survived from that massacre.

When the panda stared at me, his reaction wasn't what I imagined. He was smiling at me, as he was greeting me. I was expecting of horrid and a rage panda charging at me. But there wasn't...

The Giant Panda suddenly hugged me, no sign of rage or glaring eyes upon me but gentle glance and welcome embrace. He might not be frightened at me, but I was horrid!

Perhaps this panda survived from the massacre at such young as that 'Dragon Warrior' as he was an infant back then.

_xxxxxxxxxx_

_Normal POV:_

_xxxxxxxxxx_

"Welcome to Tian Shen Village! I'm Han, as you can see, I'm a panda! Also a wrestler and a performer in the circus crew!" this panda was also as talkative as Wong.

The panda clutched Shen too tight, the peacock couldn't speak properly. "...Y...ght..."

"What did you say?" Han asked.

"Uh...Han, maybe you could loosen him a bit." Wong suggested.

"Oh!" Han realized as he immediately let go of Shen, who gasped for fresh air, "Sorry about that!"

Shen was panting, not from the hug. But something was bad with his lungs as he coughed hoarsely. The others began worry, the yellow canary was the first to break in.

"Zen! Zen! What's wrong with you, man!" Wong worriedly asked.

Meng was the second to react as she ordered, "Quick! Gte him back to my cabin!"

And so they acted as they gently carried the ill albino peacock to Meng's resident. Shen heard a whisper from the peahen before he slipped into the darkness.

"You'll be fine...I promise..."

Shen closed his eyes once more...

* * *

><p><strong><em>To be continued...<em>**

_"Zen" means meditation._

_"Mui" means one of the species of the peony blossoms._

_"Cai" means rainbow, or colorful._

_"Keung" means strong, powerful, or vigorous._

_"Yao" means "to shine", or "to boast"._

_"Zhong" means centre, or the first letter of the chinese characters of "China"="Zhong Guo"_

_"Wong" means, actually, it is one of the family names._

_"Han" means an adult male (informal), or one of the names of dynasties, or the Chinese people (specifically the Han)._


End file.
